SK News Point-Live Cricket News-19th October 2016

Virat Kohli on relationships | Prime Minister Modi invited for first Test at Rajkot | Anil Kumble speaks about MS Dhoni | John Wright appointed as specialist coach by Derbyshire | Follow SK Newspoint for all the live cricket news.

Virat Kohli speaks on his childhood coach and IPL team

Indian Test skipper and one of the most charismatic players going around confessed that he is still scared of his childhood coach Rajkumar Sharma.

“He (Sharma) is the only person I am scared of a good scolding. I can’t say anything to him even now and it comes from respect. And it’s always good to have someone like that", Kohli said while speaking at the launch of a new book on him – Driven, written by Vijay Lokapally.

Kohli also said that he would never change his coach or his IPL franchise, Royal Challengers Bangalore, since he believes that relationships are built on trust and for him loyalty forms one of the crux in any type of associations.

“In relationships, I always look at loyalty. From 1998, I had only one coach and that’s never going to change. I have played for one franchise in the IPL and that’s also never going to change.”

Prime Minister Modi invited for first Test at RajkotThe Saurashtra Cricket Association (SCA) stadium at Khandheri will host the first Test of the five-match series between India and England from the 9th to 13th November. The match is historic as it's the first Test to be hosted by the SCA.

And to grace the occasion, the SCA has invited Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Himanshu Shah, the SCA's media manager said, "It has been SCA's profound honour that Modiji has laid the foundation stone of the stadium on June 19, 2006 when he was the Chief Minister of Gujarat. He has also inaugurated it on 5 January, 2013."

Former cricketers like Salim Durani, Dilip Doshi, Karsan Ghavri, Yajuvendra Singh and Ajay Jadeja have also been invited to witness the Test match.

Indian cricket team coach, Anil Kumble came in support for the captain of the Indian team in shorter format of the game, Mahendra Singh Dhoni. Speaking at a press conference Kumble said that the speculations surrounding the form of Dhoni should settle down given his vast experience.

Kumble was asked if Dhoni would be seen promoting himself in the batting order keeping in mind the 2017 Champions Trophy to which he said, "It all depends on match situations. While chasing you need more experience. As far as MS is concerned, he has enough experience. He has shown over the years that he has enough capabilities as a batsman."

Kumble also said that a player of Dhoni's calibre doesn't really need time to settle down in a tense match.

John Wright appointed as specialist coach by Derbyshire for 2017 T20 Blast campaign

Former India and New Zealand head coach, John Wright was appointed as the specialist coach of Derbyshire for their 2017 T20 Blast campaign. The 62-year old played for Derbyshire between the period of 1977 and 1988, scoring around 15,000 runs. He was the head coach of Mumbai Indians team that went on to win the IPL in 2013.

Director of cricket Kim Barnett said, "We could not have anybody with higher pedigree than John for this new role."

"I could not be more pleased to get him back on board here and work with him. He is a fantastic strategist and will give us a lot of expertise technically and tactically," Barnett was quoted as saying in BBC.

Alastair Cook says James Anderson won't be fit to start the Test series against India

Captain of the England Test team, Alastair Cook, has said that fast bowler James Anderson won't be fit enough to start the Test series against the Indians in November.

The 34-year-old has not played since the fourth Test against Pakistan in August as he bids to recover from a stress fracture in his right shoulder.

Cook said that though the bowler may miss out on a berth for the starting eleven, he will have a key role throughout the series. He confirmed the news at a press conference ahead of their first Test against the Bangladesh cricket team on 20th October.

Shane Watson hits back at Michael Clarke for making inappropriate comments

Former Australian cricketer Shane Watson has hit out at Michael Clarke after the former Aussie captain referred him as a 'tumour' in the Australian cricket team in his recently launched autobiography.

Speaking to a local media channel, Watson said that it was pointless in reopening the old wounds. Watson said that Clarke's comments came at the wrong moment as most of the players that he had accused were content in retirement.

"For me I think it was more a reflection of the person he is more than what it was directed towards me," Watson told Fox Sports on Tuesday. "In the end it is really disappointing that things like that start to come out two or three years later on when we are all very content in retirement," he was quoted as saying in Firstpost.

England cricket board plans to start a new T20 tournament from 2020

The England and Wales cricket board announced that they are targeting the year 2020 to launch their new T20 competition that is currently planned to comprise eight regional teams and 35 matches.

England's chief operating officer Gordon Hollins revealed that the board was targeting the year 2020 for the launch of its competition. "2020 is the current thinking," he said. "Our current broadcast rights run until the end of 2019, so the obvious time would be 2020 so that allows us time to make sure the game is organised properly," he was quoted as saying in Cricbuzz.

Mohammad Asif makes a return to first-class cricket

Captained by Salman Butt, tainted Pakistani pacer makes a comeback to first-class cricket after serving his term in the spot fixing scandal that kept him out of the game from six years. Representing WAPDA, he took two wickets apiece in each innings. It was his first appearance in Pakistan domestic cricket since 2009.

South Africa anxious about pink ball Test

New South Africa captain Faf du Plessis has said that he is a bit concerned about facing up to the pink ball, adding that he has not thrown a pink ball around yet and added that he had no expectations from it.

"I haven't faced or thrown the pink ball around so it's all pretty new to me. It will be nice to see how it plays.I know some of the guys have pink balls in their kit, especially the bowlers. We've asked around a little bit and read the stuff other teams have been saying about the pink ball. I've got no expectations of it. I'm going in without any experience of it at all," du Plessis said.